Advances in vehicle integrated computer technology have made it possible to not only control a variety of vehicle systems through integrated software and hardware, but to actually optimize those systems based on observed conditions.
For example, certain existing protocols provide methods and techniques for optimizing fuel efficiency based on observed conditions of travel between a current location and a destination. Traffic, weather, even road surface conditions may be considered when optimizing the powertrain controls. Of course, to provide optimization with such foresight, it is desirable to know where the driver is going.
Even though many vehicles are equipped with navigation systems, drivers, especially when driving to a familiar location, will not always input their destination. Accordingly, it is not always apparent where a vehicle is headed. Further, it may be cumbersome or even annoying to a driver to require them to input a destination every time that a trip is undertaken. While a driver may realize monetary gains in fuel economy (and other optimization strategies), the driver may still find it bothersome to have to spend the time to input a destination on every trip.
Further, many vehicle navigation systems are equipped with a lockout function that prevents entry of a destination once the vehicle is underway. Which means, if a driver wishes to enter a destination to take advantage of optimization algorithms, the driver may actually have to pull off the road and stop the trip. Such detours may be undesirable for a driver and it would be preferable if they were totally or at least largely unnecessary.
In one example, for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), it is a common practice for the vehicle to operate in charge depletion mode for a fixed distance or when the target depth of discharge is met. After that, the system switches to charge sustaining mode where battery SOC is maintained around a fixed level. There may be potential energy economy benefits (avg. range/charge) if a PHEV's charge depletion profile is modified to extended the depletion distance matching the driver's intended driving distance until the next location where charging activity can take place.
Unfortunately, unless a destination is known or predicted, it could be very difficult to know when a next charging activity can take place, and, accordingly, it could be very difficult to manage energy depletion until this event.